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In domestic matters, the colonies were largely self-governing on many issues; however, the British government did exercise veto power over colonial legislation, and regardless of the type of colonial government, retained control of the law and equity courts; judges were selected by the British government and served at the king's pleasure.
The Massachusetts Government Act abrogated the colony's charter and provided for a greater amount of royal control. Massachusetts had been unique among the colonies in its ability to elect members of its executive council. The act took away that right and instead gave the king the sole power to appoint and dismiss the council.
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and recognized the Thirteen Colonies, which had been part of colonial British America, to be free, sovereign and independent states.
The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in Britain. The government spent much of its revenue on the Royal Navy, which protected the British colonies and also threatened the colonies of the other empires, sometimes even seizing them. Thus, the British Navy captured New Amsterdam (New York) in ...
The British government (as with the Government of the Kingdom of England before it) has never assigned seats in the House of Commons to any colony, effectively disenfranchising colonials at the sovereign level of their government. There has also never been a peer in the House of Lords representing any colony.
Proprietary charters gave governing authority to the proprietor, who determined the form of government, chose the officers, and made laws subject to the advice and consent of the freemen. All colonial charters guaranteed to the colonists the vague rights and privileges of Englishmen, which would later cause trouble during the American Revolution.
These acts provoked an ideological conflict between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies regarding the nature of the Crown's authority over colonists. [3] Protests by the colonists began as a demand for equal rights under the British constitution , but as the dispute progressed, they took a decidedly republican political viewpoint.
In the 18th century, the British government operated under a policy of mercantilism, in which the central government administered its colonies for Britain's economic benefit. The 13 colonies had a degree of self-governance and active local elections , [ a ] and they resisted London's demands for more control over them.